Study on the limits of all-optical time-domain demultiplexing using cross-absorption modulation in an electroabsorption modulator

A theoretical and experimental assessment of the performance of an all-optical demultiplexer based on cross-absorption modulation in an electroabsorption modulator is presented. Simulations are described for demultiplexing from 160 Gbit/s to a 40 or 10 Gbit/s base rate. Experimental results are presented for demultiplexing to a base rate of 10 Gbit/s from an optical time-domain multiplexing rate of 80 with a bit error rate (BER) <10^-9 and 160 Gbit/s with a BER ≃10^-7.